Col. Aaron Gross

1/20/2009, 5:32 a.m.

Col. Aaron Gross

Col. Aaron Gross was recently sworn in by Gov. Deval Patrick to take the helm of the Massachusetts Environmental Police, assuming responsibility for the force entrusted with protecting the Commonwealth’s environment and resources.

“It is my pledge to the people in the great state of Massachusetts to protect and ensure that nature is kept at its best for my children, your children and their children, so that they will be able to enjoy the wonders of nature as God has blessed it to be throughout time,” said Gross in a statement.

Gross comes to the Environmental Police as a career law enforcement officer with experience in local, state and federal levels.

He began his law enforcement career in 1974, when he joined the Boston Police Department (BPD). He served the city with distinction, working as a community service officer and helping to establish over 300 crime watch groups throughout the city and surrounding communities. Gross earned the rank of detective, working in the domestic violence and spousal abuse, drug control, criminal investigation and intelligence units.

In 1988, Gross was assigned as the Boston Police Department’s liaison to the federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), and was deputized as a task force agent. The following year, he was assigned to the Asset Forfeiture Unit, which worked drug and money laundering cases that resulted in the seizure of over $14 million. In 1995, Gross earned the title of sergeant detective while assigned with the DEA, and in April 2006, he was assigned as commander of the BPD’s Sex Offenders Unit.

Gross is a U.S. Army veteran who held the rank of Sergeant First Class, earning the Vietnam Service Medal, three Purple Hearts and the Vietnam Campaign Medal. He is married and the proud father of three children.